Seven Days
by Ashrandi the skull kid
Summary: !DA2 SPOILERS! Hawke sent Anders away, but gave him a chance to come back... provided he can put him vengeance behind him. He has seven days to sort his thoughts and make his peace with his actions. F!Hawke/Anders
1. Day 1

**A/N: This is set in a DA2 RP a friend and I are writing. In it, there are two sister Hawkes – Lucia and Katherine – who both become the Champions of Kirkwall. This vignette takes place after Anders destroys the Chantry and is told from his perspective.**

**I do not own Dragon Age 2 or the characters therein.**

**Day 1**

That morning… I half expected to wake up dead. I expected the templars to rouse me with a sword through my heart. Or maybe to have Fenris crush it; that would've been fitting and somewhat ironic. Had Sebastian decided to come after me, I suspect there would've been an arrow between my eyes.

However, none of those things happened. I woke to the sun rising and slowly uncurled from my hiding spot. It was a small cave on the approach to the Bone Pit; an odd place to hide, but I didn't really have a choice. It was where I'd ran after…

Suddenly, the soreness that permeated my body didn't matter. Katherine told me to run, so I did. She would not let me be a martyr or a hero; I didn't protest because I deserved neither of those titles. I didn't deserve_ anything_… not even my life.

But I never seem to get what I _deserve_.

I certainly didn't deserve Lucia.

Even after I'd used and betrayed her… she still cried for me and begged her sister not to kill me. Maker! Fenris had to hold her back as Katherine gave me her ultimatum.

_"Leave. I will not make you a martyr, nor will I allow you to be a hero."_

Then, she had whispered in my ear, so quiet that only I could hear her words. To anyone else, it would look like she was threatening me further, but that wasn't the case.

_"We're meeting with Isabela's ship on the Wounded Coast in seven days' time. If you can put aside your need for vengeance, then you can come with us."_

Why had she said that? I think she was just thinking of her sister. Katherine had never been overly fond of me, but Lucia…

That first morning, after I'd done the unforgivable and run away like a coward, as my mind woke up from the fog of sleep, I sank to my knees and cried. How could I have done that to Lucia? Did it even matter now?

No one answered my questions, and Justice remained blessedly silent.


	2. Day 2

**A/N: And we now return you to the angst-fest. (insert standard disclaimer here)**

**Day 2**

I had wanted to just hide in my little cave – the one near the Bone Pit – until I could meet up with Lucia on Isabela's ship. I wanted to curl up and sleep until those next five days passed. But my body wouldn't let me.

Growls coming from my stomach reminded me that I hadn't eaten anything since the day before last… the day I destroyed the Chantry. Even then, I hadn't had much. Not much point in wasting food on a dead man. Yet here I was, still breathing… with my stomach complaining at me. It seemed such a normal thing.

I tried not to venture too far from my hiding place, but I made the mistake of looking at Kirkwall. No longer my home.

I ran. I was already on the Wounded Coast by the time my legs gave out. I think I just fell face first onto the sand, not really caring that I was out in the open.

My stomach was still complaining.

I eventually worked up enough strength to wander about and find something edible. Just some roots and tubers, but they were plentiful enough that I could spend the rest of the day looking for another hiding place… one where I couldn't see Kirkwall from.

I had put the explosives in the Chantry to ensure that the Grand Cleric would die in such a manner that everyone would know she was dead. It was excessive, but it had to be. I had to show everyone… what? That mages were dangerous? That Elthina really _was_ the only thing holding the city together? What was I trying to prove?

_She needed to die._

Justice finally "spoke" up from within the deep recesses of our shared mind. Yes, the Grand Cleric had to die… to spark the war that had already been brewing. The only thing she had ever done to keep the peace was to pretend it wasn't there, that things weren't out of control.

_But they were. She needed to die, and we made sure that happened._

What if there had been another way? Would we have taken it?

_This is the justice mages have been waiting for._

I knew that all too well. Without the Grand Cleric to hide behind, everyone could see just how corrupt the tempars were. Things had to get worse before they got better.

And from the screams and cries I heard while fleeing, things had gotten much worse. I hoped that Lucia was all right. It surprised me when I didn't hear Justice complain that she was a distraction… that it served no good for me to dwell on her. Perhaps that meant that my task was complete.

_Our task will never be complete._

Of course it won't. It never will be. There will always be those who fear and despise mages, who would see us locked away or killed for our gifts. And as long as those people existed, so too would the templars.

But what more could I do? I made the tear in the Chantry's blanket that hid their corruption, showing the world the secret war that had been raging for centuries. Now… I was just one mage.

No… I was just an abomination. And Justice didn't disagree.


	3. Day 3

**A/N: And we now return you to the angst-fest… with a bit of flashback for flavor. (insert standard disclaimer here)**

**Day 3**

There's no real way to pass the time when you're hiding on the Wounded Coast. I knew the bandits were all in the city, stealing what they could in the fallout of the battle. Even if they had been there, I had no real reason to hunt them down; I wasn't a good fighter, and it served no purpose for me to die where no one could see.

I'd gathered enough wood for a fire the previous day, and I knew where all the edible plants were, so the only bare essential task I could busy myself with was hunting. Yeah… I was a Circle-raised mage; there was no way I could catch anything. Maybe with traps, but that didn't take much thought… just some caution not to get my hand caught in the small hoop meant for rabbits or other small animals.

I wondered what I'd do if I caught a cat. No… I'd never kill a cat, not even for food. I didn't really need meat anyway.

That made me wonder, though. Where was Barnaby? That tabby cat – who had barely been weaned when I first saw him – had been a gift from Lucia. She had remembered the first conversation we ever had, when I mentioned having to give Ser Pounce-a-Lot to a friend.

_He was a noble ally._

Well… that was another thing we could agree on: it was wrong to force a man and his cat apart. Even Warden-Commander Xandra had objected, but the Orlesian Warden had insisted, and so I'd had to give him away. I hoped Lucia had gone back for Barnaby.

As I sat back in my cave around midday, my mind began to wander…

_"I have made this place a sanctum of healing and salvation. Why do you threaten it?"_

_ I regretted the words almost as soon as they left my mouth. They were mages – I could sense power in the two at the front – and my words had scared the redheaded one. Well… that had been my intention, but somehow seeing the reactions I actually got stirred up feelings of "Maker, you're an idiot."_

_ They just wanted to talk and bargain for the Grey Warden maps I had stolen, nothing more. I was leery about giving them something I had thought would be useful if I needed to evade the Wardens, but circumstance had dictated otherwise. I needed help to get Karl out of the Gallows, and here were people willing to help me… in exchange for the maps._

_ It was worth the risk. It had to be. Otherwise…_

_ They'd made him Tranquil. They had made Karl Thekla Tranquil. That was against the law; no mage deserved that in the first place. Vengeance took over then, and the next thing I remembered was the magic fading from my fingertips… and Karl begging me to kill him._

_ The first lover I ever took, asking me to… and I did it. I killed him._

_ I didn't stop walking until I was back in my clinic, the mage girls right at my heels. I explained about Justice and me, about how we'd become a monster._

_ And Lucia Hawke smiled and said that she would've done the same thing… that I couldn't have predicted the outcome of the merge. For a moment, I was my old, flirty self again, saying that she was "kind, wise, and beautiful." She giggled; I don't know why that particular detail stuck out so much._

_I realized then that my situation would not allow for such frivolous pursuits. I tried to push her away… told her that I'd only end up hurting her. And it kept her away… for a time._

I went back to check on my traps at dusk only to find that most were empty. The ones that weren't were chewed through, and one even had bloodstains. At least some fox was eating grandly that night.

Going back to my roots and plants, it occurred to me that maybe, if I hadn't taken that first, tiny step in complimenting Lucia, then she might've found someone else and been happy that way. Maybe it really _was_ my fault that she'd been hurt.

_Maybe not._

That interjection from Justice shocked me out of my reverie. For the rest of the night, I tried to figure out what he meant by that, but he was just as stubborn as me.


	4. Day 4

**A/N: Angst, angst, angst, angst… with a dash of flashback. (insert standard disclaimer here)**

**Day 4**

I hadn't expected the bandits to come back quite so quickly.

Justice woke me up from a light nap around midday and warned me of "another presence in the area." I barely had time to hide deeper in the cave before a group of ruffians trudged back through the camp I'd been borrowing for the past few days. They had brought back a substantial haul… one that made Justice twitchy. I knew why; they had most likely taken all the items of value in several houses.

_They will feel justice's burn._

Not now. I knew Justice couldn't wait for a better time, but throwing ourselves at a group of bandits seemed like asking for trouble. Although… we'd certainly done stupider things since meeting the Hawkes…

_ After rooting out some nighttime thugs, I'd nearly been jumped by one of the stragglers. It had been my fault for falling so far behind the rest of the group, but that wasn't the only reason I'd made such an easy target. Despite Justice's protests, my thoughts had already been drifting to Lucia. She refused to wear robes, preferring trousers and a tunic. Made her harder to spot as an apostate, but also suited her well. I'd – embarrassingly – been shanked while pondering how… snuggly her latest outfit fitted her. I couldn't have been an easier target for the thug._

_The ruffian got his knife in my side, too… before getting a face full of fire. The rest of the group had ganged up to finish him off, but Lucia immediately went to me. I'd been teaching her some techniques for Healing magic, and she was getting fairly good at it. Propping me up in the crook of her arm, she ran her hand over my side and stitched the wound back together._

_I had tried not to think about how gentle she was, but, Maker, in that moment, I didn't really care. It probably had something to do with how much blood I'd lost. And then I'd fallen asleep…_

Falling asleep was the last thing on my mind as the bandits slowly realized that someone had been using their campsite. I was suddenly very afraid, despite _wanting_ to die mere days before. The cave was nearby, I hadn't covered my tracks, and they were more than likely to storm in there and tear me to pieces.

Well… not before I gave them a taste of a fireball. If I were going to die, it would be with a bang.

But they never came. From what I could hear among the echoes, those bandits were smarter than most and didn't pursue whatever had been sleeping in their camp. With apostates on the loose, they probably reckoned that was who had used their base… which was technically true.

They had moved on by nightfall. I didn't sleep soundly, but it was enough for the night…

"_Thank you, Anders."_

"_What for?"_

"_Saving our brother."_

_I stopped walking for a moment, looking up at the ceiling of the Deep Roads. "Don't thank me yet. Joining the Wardens isn't a walk in the park."_

"_Still… better than what would've happened."_

_At that, I felt Lucia lean against my coat, tears soaking the feathered pauldrons. In that moment of sympathy, I'd laid my own head on hers… lightly, of course. She'd just lost a brother, and me… a friend._


	5. Day 5

**A/N: Here's a switch: more flashback, less angst. For one chapter, at least. (insert standard disclaimer here)**

**Day 5**

Despite the fact that the bandits had apparently moved on – most likely to pawn off their stolen goods in another city – I had a growing feeling of tension. It was palpable, like a wool blanket. And I had no idea where it came from.

In two days, I could search for The Siren's Call and reunite with everyone. At that point, even Fenris would've been a welcome sight. He probably wouldn't think so, but that was the point. We hated each other, sometimes called each other names like bickering schoolboys… schoolboys who would kill one another if given the chance. The only thing that actually held us in check was the Hawke family.

Of course, meeting up with them would mean seeing… her. Lucia. Could I even look her in the eye after what I'd done? I hadn't even so much as glanced in her direction after everything went to the Void. She had been crying when I left; would she have finally realized that I wasn't worth her love? That would kill me as surely as any blade.

_This is not true! She will not…_

I hadn't expected such an outburst from Justice, especially with him just trailing off afterwards. He'd always been so adamant about… well, everything; it actually scared me that he sounded as if… as if he also felt something for Lucia. He'd always opposed – or, in recent years, tolerated – my relationship with the mage woman.

I felt an up welling of jealousy I never knew existed. Justice was a part of me; it shouldn't have surprised me that more of my emotions had corrupted my friend, yet I hated the very thought that he might hold some form of affection for her. But, when I pressed for answers, I was met with one thought.

_She is compassion._

"_Um… good evening."_

_I couldn't help but gawk at the woman at the top of the flight of stairs in the Hawke estate. The same woman I'd seen fight darkspawn without flinching. The same woman who'd gotten herself covered in blood to help me remove a long spear from the chest of a patient. The same woman who railed against her sister's snarky remarks with plaintive pleas._

_The same woman who was now wearing a grass-green dress that accented her red hair and emerald eyes, who was also coming down towards me. A vision of beauty if there ever was one._

_Leandra had all but cornered Fenris and I when we'd come to the estate; the Hawke sisters had invited us both to a formal Ball at the viscount's keep. However, while they were still preparing, their mother had gotten to grilling us about how we knew her daughters. Naturally, the elf and I started sabotaging each other's stories to an increasingly distraught Leandra._

_But seeing Lucia drove all thoughts of hate and embarrassment into the deepest recesses of my mind. "It is now," I said, feeling the incredible urge to bow. Lucia and Katherine had already begun descending the stairs, but it took the red-haired mage a bit longer to get down. She, unlike her sister, preferred pants to robes and probably wasn't as good walking around in a dress._

_My hand found hers as she came to the last step. "I… I guess it is." She stuttered a bit, like she had when she asked me to come. Her cheeks were much more red, though._

_Soon after, all five of us left – Leandra came as she was the girls' mother – and ended up at the Ball. While the company was stiff and stuck-up, all I could think about was how easy it was to dance with Lucia and how her face was adorned by a smile all the while._

_And then there was the kiss, a peck on the cheek as thanks for accompanying her. That alone had been worth suffering through Isabela's antics that evening._

_ "There's a list?"_

_ I was stunned to learn what I had during a night at the Hanged Man. It had started out as a simple gathering, just an excuse to get together and drink, but quickly got out of hand when Isabela suggested a game. A game called "Never Have I Ever." When it came Carver's turn to speak, he aimed his sentence at Lucia: "Never have I ever kissed a Templar."_

_ A surprising number of people drank to that, including Isabela and Aveline. It was Lucia's drink that gave me pause, though. When pressed for details – as we had done for everyone – she was rightly embarrassed. Katherine made a little quip about the "long or the short list," and my response was suitably rude._

_ "There's only the short list, but it is a list," Lucia admitted._

_ If Justice had a jaw, it would've dropped right then. Of course, mine almost did the same. "But you're a-" Pausing to look around, I lowered my voice. "A mage. How did you manage to kiss one?"_

_ "I…" The younger Hawke sister bunched the fabric of her trousers in her fists. "I… would talk to them. I talked to everyone… just to see who was friendly and who would rat us out. I _had_ to talk to the Templars or I'd seem suspicious."_

_ That made sense to me, but it still hadn't answered why she kissed a Templar… or why she'd apparently kissed so many. "How…?" I began, but everyone else cut me off, more interested in her first kiss and the names on her 'list.'_

_ "I'm just glad you weren't caught," I said after we started going home._

_ Lucia was leaning on me, although not much. She said she was drunk, but that didn't seem likely. I thought that it was just an excuse to hold my arm, which was fine by me. The younger mage sighed. "I know. I'm also glad I wasn't caught. Although I'm surprised that Cullen ended up here, too. He runs really fast."_

_ I smiled, remembering the few times I'd seen him fleeing some apprentice in the Tower. "He's afraid of women, I'm sure of it."_

_ "I feel sorry for him."_

_ "Why? He's a Templar. He'd probably turn you in at the drop of a hat… No, he _would_ do just that."_

_ Lucia shook her head. "I know, but not all Templars wanted to become Templars. Some that I knew… they were orphans and had no other skills. I guess, in some ways, they're like us… just not as feared, I guess."_

I was actually surprised that Justice hadn't surfaced at that time to berate her for taking pity on Templars. Of course, that had also been when we were out in the open, where glowing would've done more harm than good. It was also when I could control him better.

I'd hardly moved all day, only going out to get enough food to quiet my stomach. My memories kept me company when Justice went silent.

Right before I fell asleep, though, I could've sworn I heard him in the back of my mind, thinking on… something.

_She is Compassion._


	6. Day 6

**A/N: And now for something (not) completely different. (insert standard disclaimer here)**

**Day 6**

There were refugees. People fleeing Kirkwall because of the battle between Templar and mage. The conflict I'd brought to the surface. Otherwise, they would never have known what we suffered.

It was one thing in theory, however, and another entirely to see the actual results.

I'd gotten out of the cave for a bit, mostly to stretch my weary muscles. Some days, I wondered where all the years had gone; I felt like an old man. When did that happen? But I managed to move more than five feet from my safe retreat… to make sure I could still move once the ship arrived if nothing else. Going down the slope to – what else? – get some food, I stopped short.

Along the main road, several people – elves, humans, even some dwarves – were making their way along the Wounded Coast, presumably to one of the other Free Marches cities. They all looked like they'd fit right in with the squatters of Darktown, but the few belongings I could see cast that thought from my mind. Pots and pans, hand-made dolls, a mule near the tail end of the stream… those who lived in Darktown could barely clothe and feed themselves.

I just stared for a time. I couldn't think of anything but the fact that it was my fault they were fleeing. My fault they had nothing left… my fault…

Justice stirred deep in the back of my mind, and I ran. I couldn't handle it; I should've died. I wasn't meant to see this, wasn't meant to… be alive. I ran until I tripped on some rock half buried in the sand.

I just lay there, crying with no tears. I didn't deserve to live…

Sitting up, I took out my knife and put the tip to my own throat. I couldn't… I just couldn't. I briefly wondered why it took me so long to muster the courage to take my own life, but it wouldn't matter much longer.

Justice was still yammering at me, but I ignored him. "Wh-when I'm dead," I said aloud, although he knew what I was going to say, "you'll be free. You won't be tainted anymore, and I… I can finally rest."

I expected him to shout or pose a counter-argument. What I got was silence, for a moment, and then memories that drowned out everything else.

_Our first kiss was anything but delicate. I'd been bottling up my feelings for years and it showed; when I pulled away, I immediately knew that there would be bruises on our lips. I really didn't care._

_ "Anders?" Lucia's voice was almost a whisper._

_ I truly smiled for the first time in years. "We could die tomorrow… I didn't want it to be before doing that."_

_ "Me neither." She squeezed my hands, and I realized that I'd been holding hers. I instinctively tried to withdraw, but Lucia kept her grip as she smiled broadly._

_ That smile… It may just have been the years I'd spent admiring her from afar or all the nights I found myself thinking of her, but there was no one I thought could look more beautiful than she did. The words poured out of my mouth unbidden. "If you're with me, we'll be hunted… hated. The world will be against us. I can't give you a normal life…"_

_ Lucia brushed my lips with the tips of her fingers, and my voice simply left. "Anders, my life's been anything _but _normal. I'd rather be hated for being with you than loved for being with anyone else."_

_ Words failed me. I wanted to just lean in and kiss her again, but life had other ideas at that moment._

_ Someone threw open the doors to my clinic, yelling, "We need the healer!"_

_ Lucia flinched and sighed. "Of course… irony dictates that that needed to happen at just this instant." She looked up at me with another smile; how did she do that so much and not get tired? "I'll let you get back to your patients. Right now, they need you more than I do."_

_ Before I ran off to help whatever injured person needed my help, I said, "If your door is open tonight, I will come for you." Somewhat unwillingly but knowing that I had to say it, I added, "If not, then I'll know you took my warning at last."_

_ She simply nodded._

_ I didn't know what was more terrifying: being rejected by a locked door or opening my heart again. After what had happened with Karl, I couldn't bear the thought of losing her. I still would've felt horrible if she died anyway, but there was just something different in losing a lover, one you cared about deeply and who returned those feelings._

_ But none of that mattered when I entered the Hawke estate. I remember saying "hello" to Bodahn, and seeing Leandra looking at me with a perplexed and yet knowing look. There might've been some discussion, although it was so short and utterly inconsequential at the moment that I didn't remember the specifics of any of it._

_ Not when I turned the handle to Lucia's room and found that it opened._

_She hadn't rejected me._

_I strode into the room, trying to look confident but certainly not feeling so. The younger Hawke girl hadn't even tried to cover up her anxiety. I could see it in the way she was biting her thumb and tapping the heel of her shoe on the floor. She nearly jumped when I came in._

"_Y-you're here," Lucia said as if she doubted I would keep my word. Her body seemed to relax, although her words hadn't. "I was… worried you wouldn't come."_

_I couldn't help the little smirk that crossed my face. "After all this, you really think I'd get cold feet?" Before she could answer, I took a few long strides towards her. "Justice does not approve of my feelings for you. He thinks you're a distraction." But what a marvelous distraction she was; more often than not, I'd come away from our conversations with more convincing arguments to put in my manifesto. "He and I… disagree."_

_Lucia grinned. "I'm assuming he lost that argument."_

"_I wouldn't say that, but he's certainly quieter than normal."_

_My hands must've been shaking because Lucia gently scooped mine up and looked right into my eyes with all the seriousness I'd feared. "I don't want to go back to square one, but if this is too fast for you, then I'll understand."_

_I shook my head, breaking eye contact and looking off to the side. Could I tell her what I was feeling? Could I find the words? All I knew was that I had to try. "In the Circle, love was just a game. It gave the Templars too much power if there was something – someone – you couldn't stand to lose. I've… I've spent so much of my life playing that game, even when I managed to escape the Circle. Getting into a bed was so easy… it's this, what I feel, that scares me. But I don't want to run. Not anymore."_

_I felt Lucia's hand on my cheek then, tilting my head so I was once again looking at her face. "And I don't want to chase anymore."_

"_No mage I know has ever dared to fall in love." The words were coming more easily, and my hand moved of its own accord to cup her cheek. "This is the rule I will most cherish breaking."_

_The kiss that followed was nothing like the first. It was almost tentative, slow and relaxed, an unspoken promise to cease our foolish dance and just be together. As she took my hand and pulled me towards her bed, I felt more happy and free than I'd ever felt before._

"_Anders?"_

_I'd heard that exact question several times over the past months as I sat hunched over the desk, fiercely writing revision after revision of my manifesto even as the night turned into day and my candle burned down to nothing but molten wax and a charred wick. Despite how sleepy she sounded and how heavy my eyelids were getting, I couldn't stop. There were still so many additions, changes, and rewordings to do before it was perfect._

_And I couldn't stop until it was perfect._

_I heard the bed shifting as Lucia slid out from under the blankets and her light footsteps as she came to a stop just behind me and to my right. "Anders, do you have any idea how late it is?"_

_I nodded once, not even slowing down. Not until I felt her lean on my back and cover my hand with hers. She'd made the quill still for a moment, but I couldn't stay like that for long. I tilted my head to look into her eyes; they were half-lidded, but I knew she was reading. "Love, please," I said, not sure what would convince her that I needed to keep writing. "It's not done yet. Not even close-"_

_Lucia cut me off with just a single look. It wasn't weariness I saw in her eyes… it was understanding. And also loneliness. "Nothing changes overnight. Leave it be, and I'll help you with it tomorrow."_

_I was still as a stone for a moment as she took her hand off mine. Then I only took my eyes off her to put the quill down and stopper the inkwell. We simply fell into bed that night, holding one another as sleep came._

A thud brought me back to the present. It took me a moment to realize that I'd dropped the knife. The tears had finally come during my reminiscing, and my first movement was to hold my head in my hands.

I couldn't do it.

Lucia was out there, probably on Isabela's ship, and there was still a chance that I could see her again. To leave her on her own in the world to come… _that_ would've been the unjust thing to do. I laughed a bit at that realization. "Was that _your_ influence, Justice? Don't tell me that _you_ want to live with her." After a silence followed, I prodded again, that time internally. Did he want to live a normal life, or at least give Lucia one?

_There are… compelling reasons to continue working with her._

Despite his words, the affection I felt towards her coming from him told me everything. Justice had reasons to stay, and, for once, none of them had to do with a grand ideal… just a simple, pure emotion.

I slept the rest of the day, but it was the most peaceful sleep I'd had in a long, long time.

**A/N: Sorry this one took so long to get up. Stress is such a great way to deprive myself of motivation.**


	7. Final Day

**A/N: Final day. (insert standard disclaimer here)**

**Day 7**

When I woke up, the sun was already bright overhead. It was so warm that I felt as though I could just fall asleep again; my body certainly thought that I deserved a rest. I was about to comply when Justice stirred in my mind.

_We have something to do, Anders._

I shrugged it off. The manifesto wasn't going anywhere. Couldn't I have just one day?

_This is not about the manifesto. Get up!_

I was about to give him a very good counter-argument when realization hit me. Today was the day. Lucia and the others would be meeting up with Isabela and leaving Kirkwall for good. I couldn't get up fast enough, and all the blood in my body rushed from my head, leaving me a bit dizzy.

But I didn't have time for that. What if I'd missed the rendezvous? What if I couldn't find them in time? No. I couldn't. I needed to return, to tell Lucia that Vengeance had disappeared. To build a future with her, one that she truly deserved.

I ran down the slope to the coast, looking up and down the shore for any sign of a ship. Nothing. But I couldn't see the entire shore from there, so I just picked a direction and ran. With no food or water since last morning, the only thing that kept me going was my desire – no, need – to find the group. To find Lucia. I would not allow my body to give out until I found them.

Several minutes, and still I saw nothing. "Where?" I panted, trying to keep running but my body protested every movement. "Where are they? I… I can't lose her. This… this is my only chance…" Justice agreed, but he had no ideas besides…

"The peninsula! There's… there's cover there." I barely got the words out, not quite sure why I needed to say them when the only one around could hear my thoughts anyway. With that one glimmer of hope, I began running again.

As I rounded a bend in the rocky shore, I saw sails and immediately turned toward them. It had to be Isabela's ship; it wasn't flying any flags, and soon I saw a few figures standing next to it on the beach. But they were slowly moving back to the ship.

"No!" I shouted, using the last of my strength to get close enough to see whom the figures actually were. One was unmistakably Isabela, a white and brown mix on the yellowish sands, and next to her were the Hawke sisters. My body couldn't do it anymore, though, and I fell to my knees, unable to get back up. "Wait! Please wait!"

Lucia was dragging her feet compared to her sister, and she paused, looking around, probably to find who was screaming. I couldn't tell the expression on her face, but I saw her rush away from the ship and up the sand to where I was, out of breath and tired. Her face was marred by tears by the time she was close enough to make out, though, and it was all I could do not to fall over as she wrapped her arms around me.

"Anders…" she cried into my shoulder. "Anders…"

I returned her embrace and stroked her orange hair. "I'm here, love. I'm sorry." My voice came out as barely a whisper, but I knew she heard.

"Thank you," Lucia's voice trembled as she spoke. "Thank you for coming back. I love you, Anders."

I closed my eyes. Now, I could rest. "I love you, Lucia."

_The Fade was always a peaceful place. It had been such a long time since Justice had just wandered it, no goal in mind._

_ That wasn't right. He had a goal, but it had nothing to do with justice or demons or magic. He trudged up a facsimile of a hill, one he had climbed many times before. And just like all the other times, there was a lake at the top._

_ And a woman in a white dress._

_ She was sitting by the lake, just arranging rocks into circles, until she heard Justice walk up behind her. Turning around, he could see that it was Lucia. Only her eyes glowed violet and violet rivets of light ran across her body, just like blue light seemed to leak from Anders's body when Justice was in control. And Justice was always in control in the Fade._

_ "I was beginning to think you weren't coming," the woman said, offering a hand to Justice._

_ He took it and let himself be pulled down to sit beside her. "I had to come. I… need you."_

_ The woman squeezed his hand and smiled. "You know you don't, but I do enjoy spending time with you. I was afraid that would never happen again."_

_ Justice shook his head. "I will be here as long as you want me here. I… like you, Compassion."_

_ "Thank you," Compassion said, laying her head on Justice's shoulder. "I like you, too."_

**A/N: So sorry this took so long. My muse went on holiday in Bermuda or somewhere, and just now came back. I hope you all enjoyed "Seven Days", and thank you for reading.**


End file.
